Goal by Carter gives Flyers another win over Devils

Oct 26, 2008 - 1:29 AM
PHILADELPHIA (Ticker) -- Jeff Carter scored at 3:44 of overtime
as the Philadelphia Flyers posted their first winning streak of
the season with a 3-2 victory over the New Jersey Devils on
Saturday.

Defenseman Ossi Vaananen brought the puck into the offensive
zone and took a shot from the right faceoff circle. From his
knees, Carter re-directed the puck past goaltender Martin
Brodeur from the right side of the net for the winning tally.

For Carter, it was his sixth goal of the season and extended his
goal-scoring streak to four games.

"I knew Ossi had it back there, and I just turned and tried to
get in front of him," Carter said. "I kind of slipped out, and
my stick just happened to time it perfectly and got a piece of
it."

Carter's goal came in an extra session that was delayed after a
smoke bomb was thrown onto the ice by a fan.

"I thought that was kind of weird. It's the first time I've
seen that," Flyers right wing Mike Knuble said. "In minor
league hockey, they would have fireworks explosions before
games, and the ice would water, but I don't know if that was a
distraction for them at all. You kind of just have to play
through it, and we scored right after that."

"It smelled like New Year's," Vaananen said.

Whatever it was, it led to a win, and the Flyers certainly will
take it.

The victory was Philadelphia's second win in less than 24 hours,
with both coming against its Atlantic Division nemesis. The
Flyers started the season 0-3-3 before posting a 6-3 victory at
New Jersey on Friday night.

"I thought it was a real solid effort from start to finish,"
Flyers coach John Stevens said. "To be able to keep the goals
against down is obviously a big focus for us right now, and to
win a close game like that against the Devils, who pride
themselves in winning close games, that was a real feather in
our cap."

Knuble and Scott Hartnell also scored for the Flyers, who never
trailed.

"They have had our number the last couple of years," Hartnell
said. "It's nice to get two wins on them, four points, and it's
a well-needed four points at this point in the season with the
start that we had."

Zach Parise and Brian Gionta tallied and Brodeur stopped 30
shots for the Devils, who have lost two straight following a
three-game winning streak.

"They came down and they played it to the net and it hit a stick
and went over Marty," Devils coach Brent Sutter said. "It's an
unfortunate goal for Marty, but we played hard and played a good
hockey game. We responded well to last night, and that's what
you want to see."

Knuble opened the scoring at 9:42 of the first period, burying
the rebound of his own wraparound shot for his second goal of
the season - and in as many games.

Parise tied the contest 27 seconds into the middle session, when
he stood in the slot and tipped a shot from the point by
defenseman Colin White past netminder Martin Biron.

Hartnell scored on the power play just over nine minutes later,
restoring Philadelphia's lead.

Defenseman Braydon Coburn took a slap shot from the blue line
that Carter got his stick on, but Brodeur made the initial save.
The puck deflected across the crease to Hartnell, who put it in
the vacant net to make it 2-1.

The Devils recorded a power-play goal of their own with 1:43
left in the second to forge another deadlock. Gionta recorded
his first tally of the season, lifting a backhander that beat
Biron to the blocker side.

Biron made 29 saves for the Flyers, who moved up the start time
of Saturday's contest so it would not conflict with Game Three
of the World Series between the Philadelphia Phillies and Tampa
Bay Rays.

"When he seems like he is square to the puck, nothing goes
through him," Stevens said of Biron. "He is starting to get his
confidence, and I thought that carried right into today's game.
This win is a big boost for our club, and I think it will be a
big boost for our confidence as well."